Heavy rains predicted in Coastal Hadhramaut

Rain! Here, whenever we think of rain, most people's thoughts go back to the devastating downpours and floods of almost two years ago; and we get scared. Now, it is predicted that heavy rains will hit Mukalla and around it, today or tomorrow. Normally, with rain being very rare here - the coming of rains will be a cause for celebration and hopefulness. It would mean that  there would be good harvests in the fields and more to eat; it would mean more, much needed water for the Bedouins and there herds of goats and camels. It would mean - good news. Instead, this prediction of heavy rains hasn't been pleasing to most:

One Day Of Thousands of Grooms and Brides

In May, 2006 I wrote: marriage is a very expensive process in the whole of Hadhramout; expensive in comparison to people's earnings. And expensive in the suffering and pain it causes. For many here, getting married means getting heavily in debt.

And so, last Wednesday, it was with the greatest of relief for thousands of young men and women, and their families - to be financially assisted in getting married here in Mukalla and in other parts of Yemen. They were assisted by two kind businessmen from Saudi Arabia, of Hadhramy descent.

The Magic of Google Translate

Of many of Google's very useful and fine products and tools, one of their best is undoubtedly the incredible Google Translate, which translates written words in several languages from one to the other; and it has other very useful features such as the Translator Toolkit, which helps you to organize, share and publish online. A few months ago, they introduced another excellent service - Goggles Translate. Now, the superb translator has become even better; it is now giving voice to translations:

Eat Nuts

I love nuts. Especially: almonds, peanuts and pistachios. I have just read this: a new study that was conducted by Joan Sabaté, MD, DrPH and others from the Loma Linda University in California has found that eating nuts every day can lower cholesterol levels in the blood and help to prevent heart disease. And from the BBC: eating nuts may help lower cholesterol levels, US research suggests.

The review of 25 studies, involving nearly 600 people, showed eating on average 67g of nuts - a small bag - a day reduced cholesterol levels by 7.4%.

Al Mukalla's soon to be shopping mall

It had to come to Mukalla: shopping malls. Modern malls, a creation from America of the 1920s, further developed in the 1950s and boomed in the 1970s to 80s, while many are now dying or struggling to stay afloat in the US and Canada, and very few new malls are being built there now, if any - the Middle East is just now trying to catch up and is seeing a rapid increase in the number of malls. Lead by the Gulf states, especially Dubai and Abu Dhabi - more and more shopping malls are being built across the region. Mukalla is soon having one. It will be the first in Al Mukalla and the first in Hadhramaut.